


Runaway

by somebodytoldme



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Canon Universe still with slight changes, Children, F/M, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7636105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somebodytoldme/pseuds/somebodytoldme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben ran away, he tried to run so far away, and crashed his ship right into Jakku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one-shot because I couldn't write anything else until I did. It was just stuck in my head. But now that it is out, hopefully, I will be updating other things shortly. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Much love.

The first time she sees him, he is young, but  _ wild _ . His hair is unruly, burnt and crisp on the ends. His pale, long face covered in soot, big, pouty lips chapped, brows burrowing down into a deep scowl… As if it weren’t his fault he had just crash landed onto this godforsaken planet. 

 

He walks by her without so much as a glance, and begins arguing with the trader Plutt for some rations, digging into baggy, singed clothes for a small purse. The barter gets ugly quick, as Plutt insists that credits are useless this far in the galaxy. He argues fiercely, but in the end walks away with a sad consolation prize.

 

She’s been on her own for a while now and has been making due on her own just fine. So, she isn’t sure what moves her, especially in this desert where the only unspoken rule was watch your own back  _ only _ . Perhaps it is the unbidden loneliness, that reflects like a mirror off of him to her. Or, even more likely, curiosity at seeing another kid, or someone relative to her age. 

  
She chases his figure disappearing on the horizon, reaching his back just as the planet’s sun begins to meet land. He seems to have realized she has been following because he gives her a glower as he turns about.

 

She hadn’t realized he was so tall, but now he towers over her, his shadow casting her into darkness, away from the blazing, red sun. She looks up at him, her jaw locked from years of not saying much of anything. She didn’t talk to the other scavengers, she did little but grunt at Plutt’s offhanded comments. So, she communicates in silence, backing away, as if to say, _ “I don’t care to rob you.” _

 

He seems to relax, a tiny bit, but his expression is still distrustful at best. “What do you want, then?” he asks his voice flowing smooth like water. 

 

She imagines hers would be rough, like the coarse sand that surrounded her, her whole life. She shrugged her shoulders a bit, and pointed a finger towards the East, back to her little AT-AT she called home. Then, she began in that direction, and after a few minutes of hesitation, the boy trailed after her.

 

\----

 

They sit in her home, as the sandstorm outside commences, a regular occurrence here. Having made no moves to take any of his belongings, the boy seems to relax a little. Brown, sharp eyes looking critically about. She feels a shade of something, she hasn’t felt before, discomfort, as his eyes scrape over her home. 

 

His gaze lingering on the tiny scratches on the iron wall. He points to it, speaking slowly, as if she might not understand, “Is that how long you’ve been here?”

 

She rolls her eyes at him, and grunts over her own meal, before standing up to add one more scratch to the haul.

 

He watches silent, until she sits back down, returning to her meal. He speaks again, softly, “That is a long time.”

 

She looks up over her food, almost gone, seeing soft pity in brown eyes. Open expression. She shrugs, she was waiting for them to return. Whomever left her here, they told her to wait, and she would for as long as it would take. She shakes off, and points to him.

 

He seems to understand her question, “I’m Ben Solo- or, rather, just Ben…” He waits for a second, as if to see if she would comment or introduce herself. When she doesn’t he seems to accept that too. Droning on, “I crashed… I’ve seen Father--  _ Han _ drive those ships before, and I’ve even flown a few times. I’ve never landed… though.”

 

She snorts in amusement at his misfortune, and his misfortunate appearance... Stole a ship, only to crash land it into one of the most deserted planets in the galaxy.

 

He stiffens at her amusement, “It’s harder than it  _ looks _ ,” he says, defensive.

 

She merely shrugs.

 

And he lets it go, filling the AT-AT with a heavy silence. 

 

They go to sleep not long after, though Ben keeps all his belongings tucked under one arm, as if expecting her to make off into the night with all his things. She can’t blame him, and even stashes hers somewhere when he isn’t looking.

 

\---

 

Ben talks a lot.

 

He talks about things that she doesn’t understand. He talks about planets with names she can’t remember. He talks about places he’s been, filled with water and colors she can’t imagine, and places that he wants to visit. Occasionally, he even mentions people, but not often because it seems to make him sad…

 

Names like  _ Han _ and  _ Leia and Luke _ , they all make him go quiet. They make him set his jaw in a stubborn line, and then he’ll walk away for a bit. 

 

Only to return more determined to make things work. She shows him what to scavenge from the wrecks, she helps him clean them… She isn’t sure why she does it, she shouldn’t be doing it. Too much competition already. But then, she can’t bear the silence anymore.

One day, they pass by the scraps of an old ship, and Ben points it out as his own. She picks over it in amusement, trying to see if there was anything salvageable. He watches, silently at first.

 

“I’m glad I stole that ship, you know… Even though I ended up _ here _ , I’m glad I did it.  _ Anywhere _ is better than  _ there _ … I couldn’t take another second of it, couldn’t take being locked up, being looked at…” 

 

She pauses, her hands deep in wrenching apart the old engine. He looks smaller, lost… Less  _ assured _ . Her chapped lips part, she  _ wants _ to say something. To comfort, maybe. But she can’t… Can’t seem to work the unused muscles.

 

She doesn’t have to because he fixes his gaze on her. “I ran away…. I ran away… And you ran into me…”

 

\---

 

Time passes, and she notices it by the marks on the wall, and the length of his hair. Curling down, just below his ears now. It has been about sixty marks. And things are simple. Rations are split down the middle, all stored in the little panel in the back of the AT-AT. 

 

Letters were scribbled in the sand, as Ben, in off time, taught her the alphabet. She even writes her own name.  _ Rey _ . He says it and she feels something, that had been buried for a long time, shine.

 

\---

 

It is an unusually hot day, the sun beating high and red in the sky, as they lug their haul towards ‘town’. Sweat beads down her back, and Ben reaches for her own haul, taking on half the weight along with his own. She grunts in refusal, but he doesn’t back off, moving forward as sweat pours down the back of his neck. 

 

He isn’t as lanky as when he first arrived, still thin and disportionately tall, but lean muscles have solidified in his pale shoulders. Lugging day after day would do that, she herself was all muscle. 

 

They reach town and make a beeline for water. They drink slowly, and splash a little of the precious commodity on their hot skin. So sated by the effect, they don’t realize that something is  _ horribly wrong _ . 

 

They come quickly. They confront Ben.

  
She doesn’t understand what is going on, the words being spoken fast and quick. Ben’s initial reaction changes from horror, anger, and then… resignation. 

 

She’s witnessed this before, they are going to take him away. Something moves her, her own horror, she speaks before she knows what she is saying. Almost four cycles of silence broken, “Ben,” she croaks because he isn’t looking at her. He isn’t looking natural, his face is pale… And distant. 

 

His attention snaps to, and he looks down at her, something like surprise. He murmurs something else to the people, and they move just a few paces away. She watches them from the corner of her eyes as Ben kneels before her.

  
He takes her callused hands. A child’s hands, hardened by such a bitter world. She tries to harden her heart, beating fast in her chest. Panic. “Rey,” he says so softly, “I have to leave… I’m going… But I want you to come with me.”

 

Leave? Blood pounds in her ears. Leave? No…  _ No _ , she cannot leave. He cannot leave. She shakes her head. No, no no….

 

He grabs her shoulders, steadying her, “ _ Please _ ,” he pleads with her.

 

She just shakes her head. No, she cannot go. She is waiting. She has to wait. She has to stay. He has to stay, “Stay,” she croaks, it sounds raw to even her own ears.

 

Ben looks utterly frustrated at her refusal, he groans, “I  _ can’t _ , don’t you understand? I wish I  _ could _ . Come with me… You’ll see some of the places I mentioned… You won’t have to beg for rations, you won’t have to  _ just _ survive.”

 

She shakes her head. One of the men lay their hand on his shoulders, and he gives her one more pleading look before standing up. “I have to go now, Rey…” 

 

She is frozen. Completely frozen as the men put their hands on Ben’s shoulders, as they guide him away into horizon, towards a ship. She has seen this before, felt this before… But she is completely rooted by a promise.

 

She isn’t sure what moves her.

 

Maybe it is the look that he gives her, over his shoulder, as he freezes twenty paces away. The defeat, despair etched into his features, the loneliness. It’s all like a mirror reflecting off her own. Maybe it is truth that falls down on her, as his feet touch the metal boarding dock. This is what she was waiting for.

 

She itches to move, but it isn’t until the engines start, that her feet become unglued. She runs like she is full of lead, heavy, her heart pounding irregularly in her chest. But she bolts with as much as she is worth as the ship lifts into the air. 

 

She sees Ben’s pale face in the window. It lights up as he spots her, something like disbelief, she can see him yelling something. Can see the anger, frustration as he beats his hand at the glass window as the ship slowly peels higher into the sky. Can see him screaming, he’s screaming something, fist pounding against the glass. 

 

The sand blinds her, blowing from the power of the engines, into her eyes. She cringes in pain, stumbling blindly to her knees. The heat of the engines makes her sweat, and the sand scratches her skin, unforgiving as she crumbles into herself. 

 

\---

 

The second time she sees him, he is colder. He pulls off the black helm, pale face  _ attempting _ hollowness. Failing miserably, as he is just as expressive as ever. Everything thing shows in full lips formed into a pout, brown eyes that hold too much weight too much fear and disbelief. Eyebrows that canter down, almost permanently. 

 

She tenses under the restraints, moved.

 

He breathes, and just stares, taking in her reaction. Lips twitching, to something, perhaps a memory.

 

Silence is overbearing, but she cannot speak.

 

So he does.  


 

“I ran to you.”


End file.
